Dennis welcomes Villeneuve bid – cautiously, at least

16 August 2010

Former long-time McLaren team principal Ron Dennis has welcomed the bid from Jacques Villeneuve to join the grand prix grid with his own eponymously-named team in 2011 – but he has warned the 1997 F1 World Champion that if he truly intends to succeed, he will require 'extensive financial resources'.

Villeneuve Racing – an outfit set up by the French-Canadian in collaboration with hitherto financially struggling Italian ex-GP2 Series operation Durango – is set to state its case to the FIA this week as to why the sport's governing body should prioritise it over ostensible rivals Stefan GP and Epsilon Euskadi.

Dennis, for one, reckons the 39-year-old – who would seemingly fill one of the cockpits himself, almost five years on from having ignominiously departed the F1 fray in the midst of a disappointing season with Sauber back in 2006 – deserves a shot at succeeding where the likes of USF1 so conspicuously and embarrassingly failed, but the Englishman insists it will be no walk in the park.

“Everyone in the world of F1 hopes it will work,” the 63-year-old conceded in an interview with Rue Frontenac. “It is always good to keep former F1 champions in the sport, but it won't be easy for him to enter with a team. It will take extensive financial resources. This is not a sport for the faint-of-heart.”